The teaching of the present invention are applicable to any appropriate fastener driving tool for fasteners of the type which can be arranged in rows, one-behind-the-other, and temporarily maintained in such rows to form strips of fasteners. Nails, staples and blind rivets are exemplary of such fasteners. While not intended to be so limited, for purposes of describing exemplary embodiments, the present invention will be set forth in its application to nail driving tools.
Prior art workers have devised numerous types of powered nail driving tools. The most common type is the pneumatically actuated nail driving tool of which the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,655 is exemplary. More recently, there has been considerable interest in electromechanical nail driving tools wherein the driver is actuated by a solenoid, one or more flywheels, or the like. U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,867 is exemplary of those patents relating to solenoid-actuated nail driving tools. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,121,745; 4,189,080; and 4,298,072 are exemplary of those teaching flywheel-actuated nail driving tools. Finally, prior art workers have also devised self-contained internal combustion nail driving tools. Examples of such tools are taught in co-pending application Ser. No. 881,339, filed July 2, 1986 in the name of Gilbert A. Cotta, and entitled SELF-CONTAINED INTERNAL COMBUSTION FASTENER DRIVING TOOL; and in co-pending application Ser. No. 881,343, filed July 2, 1986, in the name of Gilbert A. Cotta, and entitled CAM-CONTROLLED SELF-CONTAINED INTERNAL COMBUSTION FASTENER DRIVING TOOL. The teachings of the present invention are appllicable to any of these types of tools provided with substantially conventional magazines and guide bodies.
For purposes of an exemplary showing, the present invention will be described in its application to a conventional pneumatic nail driving tool, of the general type taught in the above noted U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,655. Typically, pneumatic nail driving tools, particularly those capable of driving large nails with a single stroke of the driver, are characterized by relatively large size and considerable weight. Generally, such nailers have magazines which extend from the rearward end of the tool to the guide body at the lower forward end of the tool. The magazines are usually configured to accommodate a strip of nails constituting nails arranged in a tandem row and held in place by tape or disposable wire elements welded to each nail shank along the length of the strip. The number of nails per load is limited to the length of the magazine and in continuous or high speed operations, considerable time is consumed in replenishing the supply of nails for such a tool. As a result, prior art workers have investigated numerous ways to increase the capacity of the tool magazine without materially increasing the weight or bulk of the tool. One approach involves the use of a canister-type magazine adapted to receive a coil of nails. An example of such a tool is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,551. Another approach involves the use of a very long strip of nails housed in a separate canister remote from the tool. An example of this approach is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,339.
Yet other approaches are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,249. In this patent, one embodiment employs a longitudinal magazine having an opening in its side flanked by a pair of laterally extending support members. The support members are provided with grooves adapted to receive the heads of the forwardmost and rearwardmost nails of each of a plurality of nail strips. A first pusher means introduces the strips, one at a time, into the longitudinal magazine wherein pusher means advances each strip toward the drive track, one-after-the-other. In another embodiment, a longitudinally extending magazine, forming a guideway to the drive track, is provided with a transverse opening in which a carrier is located. The carrier, itself, is divided into a plurality of channels, each containing a nail strip. The carrier is indexable through the magazine, aligning each of its channels with the magazine guideway so that each strip of nails, in its turn, can be loaded into the magazine guideway from the carrier, as the carrier is shifted transversely of the magazine.
The present invention is based upon the discovery that a plurality of strips of nails can be prepackaged in a high-load nail pack. The pack can be removably affixed to the side of a longitudinal magazine having a guideway to the drive track and an opening in its side adjacent the nail pack. Biasing means within the nail pack will urge the strips of nails toward the magazine, with that strip adjacent the magazine entering the magazine and being urged toward the drive track by a conventional pusher means. When one strip of nails is exhausted, retraction of the pusher means will enable the next strip of nails to be located within the magazine guideway. While the nail packs of the present invention can be made to be reusable and refillable, it is preferred that they be made of plastic or cardboard material for disposal after use. In this way, the capacity of the magazine of the nail dirving tool can be greatly increased with a minimum of increase in the weight or bulk of the tool. The nail packs provide an easy and handy way to market and store strips of nails until used. The teachings of the present invention are applicable to those types of pneumatic nail driving machines which either pull the nail strips toward the drive track, or push the nail strips toward the drive track, as will be explained hereinafter.